Churchill Downs slowly returns to normal following tornado

The number of barns left uninhabitable by the storm was reduced on Thursday

from an original total of nine to 6 1/2 as 2 1/2 barns were deemed safe by

Louisville fire officials and an earlier evacuation order for horses housed in

those barns was lifted. Churchill Downs' Steve Hargrave, the track'

superintendent of stalls, said the number of horses displaced by storm damage is

now estimated at 75 to 100, and roughly 30 of those horses have been relocated

to stalls at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky.

Structural engineers and architects were on hand to inspect the storm-damaged

barns on Thursday as track officials worked to assess the total damage caused by

the storm. Members of the track maintenance team, headed by Vice President and

Track Superintendent Butch Lehr, combed the dirt track and turf course for storm

debris, and used magnetic devices to search for nails or other metal items that

could have fallen on the track as the storm' swirling winds passed through the

track.

National Weather Service (NWS) records indicate that Wednesday' tornado was

not the first to hit the home of the Kentucky Derby (G1), which conducted its

first racing meet in May of 1875. NWS records of tornadoes recorded in Jefferson

County describe an unusual winter tornado that touched down around 7:20 a.m. on

the morning of January 19, 1928.

That storm damaged homes on Longfield and Dresden Avenues near the track

before it crossed into what is now the stable area of Churchill Downs. The

number of barns located on the property now is significantly large than in 1928,

but an NWS map indicates the path of that larger storm was very similar to

Wednesday's tornado.